Building a house and doing the finish work ourselves. 17 pressure-treated 6x6 posts, already installed, and a set of unfinished mahogany doors. Light beige siding, white trim, want a natural look on the posts, and I was told to not even try to match doors with posts which is fine with me if they will be different.
Would love any detailed advice, material list good step-by-step video if anyone has a link.
used tung oil finish (not tung oil) and i applied first a thin coat then thicker and finally straight out the can. I tried wiping/buffing it out with a little mineral spirits but it didnt affect it. Any idea what caused this or if i can fix it, its not super noticeable except from the right angles and lighting. Im currently thinking its soaked in from the end of the board. Yall think thats correct or if theres anything to be done about it?
My husband is refinishing this wood door (photos are in reverse chronological order). He thoroughly sanded the entire door first, then used chemical stripper only on a few difficult areas where the old finish wouldn’t come off. The stripper didn’t seem to help much. He removed it thoroughly with mineral cleaner, sanded the door very well again, and cleaned it before staining. The bare wood looked uniform at that point.
He then applied gel stain. It looked fairly even immediately after application, but as it dried, the areas where the stripper had been used became noticeably lighter and blotchy. The discoloration follows those areas even though the wood looked uniform before staining.
What could have caused this, and what should we do next to fix it and even out the color?
Tried the iron method with low heat and no steam to remove a water ring, which did work, but now my finish seems damaged. I cleaned the table with Murphy’s oil mix and then Howard’s feed n wax already. Looking to see what other products I can use to even out and restore the finish. The finish/spot has a slight rougher texture/different feel.
I posted a month or so ago asking for advice about how to layer shellac and gel stain to eliminate cigarette smoke odor and got some good direction. Ultimately, I did gel stain first (3 coats), then shellac (2 coats), and then some General Finishes semi-gloss (2 coats).
I did find after stripping it that the whole thing is veneered. Not sure why, but I didn’t expect that, so I’m glad I didn’t attempt to sand anything off the bat.
Overall, I’m happy with how it turned out. There are some spots the gel didn’t stick perfectly and the tone isn’t 100% even everywhere, but it looks more than nice enough for my son’s bedroom where it’s a nightstand and it’s shellac’ed within an inch of its life, so I’m confident it will remain odorless.
We put in new white oak floors and finished with bona clearseal and traffic hd matte on top. Super happy with the results. Planning white oak doors, jambs, casings, baseboards, and window sills to match, we want to keep everything as natural looking as possible.
Should we sand and finish the trim prior to install or install everything raw and after the miters are sanded and everything is nailed then finish everything?
Has anyone found a water based polyurethane that complements the bona clearseal or anyone used bona on the trim? Thanks
To preface, I have never done any of this before and have made many mistakes with this project! Please excuse my ignorance!!
This is a dresser that I bought painted and wanted to re-stain. After sanding and conditioner I attempted to use a Behr water-based stain, which applied decently enough on the backside to convince me to do the visible portions, at which point it became a horrifically ugly, streaky, sticky mess. I'm sure this was user error in addition to heat and humidity. I attempted to rectify in several ways including at one point sanding some parts all the way down again, with an only slightly less terrible result when I re-applied. It looked BAD. After a lot of desperate Google searches I bought Mohawk Finish Toner in Extra Dark Walnut and sprayed that all over the patchy stain which SAVED this poor dresser. To me, it is no longer visually offensive and actually I feel happy with how it looks (if your more trained eyes think otherwise that is okay).
Now, what brings me here is that during my initial trip to Home Depot I had bought Behr water-based polyurethane to put over my stain. I naively thought I could still use that, but tonight when I tried to start with a test patch on the back, it seems like the stain or toner is coming up with the poly. I was initially using a brush and then tried to use a pad and I see dark brown on the pad and some patchiness where I wiped. I stopped because I am terrified of ruining it more than I already have. Based on more desperate Googles, it seems like I shouldn't be using a wipe-on poly? Do I need a spray-on product? What kind specifically (like the full government name of the product that I can order)? I see people talking about lacquer?
This is not a piece that needs to stand up to a decade of wear and If you told me that I didn't need to put anything on it at all and could just put it inside to live its life as a lightly used bedroom dresser I would do that, but of course I also don't want it to start peeling or flaking in a few months.
Please please help me escape this DIY hell and I promise I will never commit crimes like against wood ever again.
Hi everyone, I’d like to help this table if possible. It’s not an heirloom for sure but I love it. I got it from World Market over 20/25 years ago . Since then, it’s been thru 3 kids (now adults) countless art projects, a couple of different houses & many moves! As you can tell, it’s been thru the wringer. It’s not just a little scratch or two. Haha
BUT it is actually real wood & still solid as can be. I love the shape & style too - kind of a tall pub table.
I can live with it like this if there’s not really a practical solution. I’ve read all sorts of warnings about a “Restore a finish” type quick fix so I. Wondering if a real refinishing is the only option?
Any thoughts?
I have an old (1920s) office chair I've been using in my home office that started to get tacky despite cleaning, so decided to strip the old finish and restore it. I've stripped most of the old finish (some sort of dark stain) and will be sanding it tomorrow, and now trying to decide on a finish. I'm trying to educate myself, but getting information overload on the internet. I don't think I want to stain it, so leaning toward some sort of oil finish (I have both pure tung and tung oil finish from other projects) and some wax I've used on cutting boards. Are either or these more protective of the wood versus the other? Considering some sort of clear coat over top such as shellac but not sure if that's able to be used over oils. Still learning my way around this, any recommendations or sources would be appreciated.
I have those shelves with a dark laminate finish, i would like to go with a more light brown color and finish the edges properly because the carpenter who did the job did it very lousy. What is the best DIY to do that, is it even possible?
You will be saving my life with a solution. Thanks in advance.
Trying to refinish a dresser (was fully painted) and am struggling with getting the primer out of the veneer pores without breaking through the thin veneer.
Any advice? I have heard that brushes have helped but I'm not sure what type, stainless steel brushes will scratch? Soft bristle didn't move anything.
Hey everyone, first time here in this sub, and I'm glad i found it. I don't really do much restoration work, so this is new to me. So I recently was given this beautiful old oak pew, and the plan is to keep it on my front porch. Trying to figure out what would be the best (if anything at all) finish to help protect it. It is covered and it doesn't get direct sun, but we do get wind driven rain and snow in this spot. Would some sort of poly be the move here? Or just send it as is and hope for the best? Not so worried about where the ground contact is, I was planning on making a larger more sturdier base, since these legs were originally bolted to the floor and not very stable in its current configuration. I'll probably make something sacrificial and screw it to the bottom there, so not so worried about it sitting in any puddles or wet spots, but definitely the rain and snow that would hit the sides and back and such. Any recommendations would be great, thanks in advance.
I have a house from mid 1950s. I just replaced the door and I was able to remove the old molding without cracking or breaking it. I was going to replace the molding and found it would have been over $80. I decided to manually sand the 3 pieces. They came out nice and I was able to sand out a lot of scratches and dings. Because I like the results so much, I am considering refinishing more molding in the house. But I really don’t want to manually sand. These 3 pieces were not that time consuming but doing more might make me go a little crazy.
Would an orbital sander or a sheet sander be better for this type of face for this molding? I am thinking the sheet sander because of the lines and groves.
Or is there something else I should consider?
I will say, the stuff at Lowe’s has some more curvature to the mid section than the 1950s original stuff. My stuff is a little more basic and flat in the middle so I don’t have to worry about flattening the mid section because it’s already flat.
The picture I included unfortunately is not a profile picture of the wood, but it’s what I am working with.
I also collected some sanding dust post finish removal so I can patch those holes with the right color.
Thanks for any advice on what type of electrical sander you would use to do more!
Hello everyone, it’s my first Time in seoul so I decided to dye y hair, the problem is that I stained the wooden floor and a part of the table, do u guys have any recommendations of products I could get and especially where to get them from thank you
Which one is better? Just wanna be safe will rag disposal. I know yall get similar questions so I appreciate your help with mine.
Option A: Hanging over metal ladder rungs seems like it would be fine?
Option B: Weighed down by rocks outside for better ventilation, but it’s in direct sunlight in 95° weather (heat seems not ideal?)
Option C: Hang some fishing line and get some clothes pins and hang them.
Option D: I’m over thinking this and any will do but you’d like to tell me that in a nice way because I’m a friendly internet stranger looking to learn and be safe.
